~ Deliciousness required

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

These pancakes were a stroke of mild genius. Or at least I’d like to think so. It all started when I lay in bed on yet another morning thinking, “Is it time for pancakes yet?” Or it would have if the baby hadn’t woken up at 5:15 and decided he was done sleeping for the night. Which obviously meant, so were we. All this created a Sunday that was just weeping for pancake salvation.

With the morning starting on such a bleary note, I was prepared to stick to my failsafe pancake recipe (a sour cream pancake into which I had cleverly subbed lowfat Greek yogurt). But somewhere en route, I became obsessed with pineapple upside down cake. The result was this beautiful mashup of ideas. Pancakes, meet caramelized pineapple. You’re welcome.

The process of making pancakes from scratch, for anyone still wedded to the Bisquick, is super fast. Just throw a few dry pantry staples into a bowl and add some eggs and yogurt (or buttermilk…or sour cream…or milk. You get the idea.) Whisk with a fork or any similar utensil you can drum up with your eyes half-open. Pour onto heated griddle. Flip and repeat. The key in this case was to add a little brown sugar to help caramelize the pineapple slices, and to be nice and patient (not a strength of mine) before doing the final flip. Before you know it, you’ll have a pretty little stack of pancakes ready to make everything better.

Sidenote – I think we can all agree that my food photography skills are vastly in need of improvement. Point noted.

First, heat your griddle or cast iron pan on medium heat. It will be ready to go once you’ve prepared your batter.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Dump in the yogurt and stir. Whisk the eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and add to the mixture. Be careful not to overmix, the batter will be slightly lumpy and uneven.

Melt a tbsp of butter on your griddle or pan. Pour the pancake batter to create roughly 4 inch round pancakes, trying not to overcrowd your pan. Wait about 2 minutes until you see bubbles form all over the top surface of the pancakes. Once this happens, place a slice of pineapple on each pancake and sprinkle with a little brown sugar. Carefully flip the pancakes, and if the pineapple slides out from underneath, gently nudge it back in. Be patient and wait another minute or two for the pancakes to finish cooking and the pineapple edges to lightly caramelize.